N.D. militarized police push back Water Protectors with armored vehicles, tear gas and rifles
Regardless of where our Water Protectors travel in North Dakota to conduct a peaceful prayer event against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline that threatens the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s drinking water, you would think that they wouldn’t be met with armored vehicles and assault rifles. But they were.
Ever since North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard to protect the pipeline, our Water Protectors don’t know what they’ll face. They have been pushed back by private security guards armed with attack dogs and pepper spray. Some were bitten and sprayed as a newly reported ancestral burial site was deliberately bulldozed to destroy evidence.
Wednesday, September 28, the Water Protectors’ caravan was met with armored vehicles, helicopters dropping tear gas and police armed with military-style rifles.
Video shows that as the resisters are confronted, the militarized force starts locking and loading their weapons. Our people immediately raise their hands in unison and yell that they are not armed, that they are praying! The arrests begin, tear gas goes off and one videographer flees to get his footage out. Twenty-one are arrested.
Thomas H. Joseph II’s video account is below the fold: